A blog about my cats and feline information in general.
Dedicated to Mikkie, Cato, Charlie and Tina: my feline family members.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Fat Cat

Last week I was
back home in the Netherlands for a short week of mainly family visits.

I stayed with my
niece and her family. They live on a nice, fairly quiet street, with a lot of
cat owners. Every now and then I would meet one of these felines, walking from
or back to their house. What struck me was the number of obese cats, not just
in their street, but also in other streets. These are cats that are allowed to
go out, so at least they’re not stuck inside all day. So how do these cats get
so fat? Overeating? Wrong food? Or is it just a suburban cat thing? But that
doesn’t seem right as I also saw normal, healthy looking cats. I would love to
chat with their humans to find out. I’m just curious. I do know that some
people have the notion that it is “gezellig” – a Dutch word that is hard to
describe, but cosy comes close – to have a fat cat lying in the windowsill.
Personally I think that a combination of wrong food (mostly dry food with a lot
of fillers) and a constant supply of it could be the reason for these cats
getting so fat. There’s no need for a constant supply of food. Feed at regular
times a few times a day. If you can’t be there yourself, get a timed pet
feeder. You can get them for up to 5 feeds. Weigh the food so they don’t get
more than they need for their body weight (So you need to know the weight of
your cat to start.)

Our two started
looking for food in between mealtimes, but they’re outside a lot and it is
getting colder. They’ve filled out but they are still lean, mean, killing
machines. They are so active, always chasing flies, leaves, toys, each other
and catching mice, rats and shrews. Somebody commented on the fact that we
don’t let the two out at night. He said: “that’s the time they want to hunt”.
He’s absolutely right but that’s the compromise in our house: inside at night.
We don’t have a cat door and don’t want to leave the window open at night for
them to go in and out and maybe bring prey back with them. Other cats could
come in and go for their food as well. Then there are also foxes around and I
don’t want them to get into a scrap with a fox. From about 6.30 am until 6 pm
they normally can come and go as they please. They then go for naps and get
some playtime in between as well. No constant supply of dry food. Dry food
(grain free) is given as a snack every now and then and for the rest they get
their regular meals of wet food. That and plenty of exercise will keep them in
good shape.

I really feel for
those obese cats. It’s not nice for them to have to carry all that weight
around and it could cause all sorts of health problems in the long run. Cat
owners: wake up. Don’t let your cats get fat. If you really care for your pets,
you watch their weight. It can also save you a lot of money on vet bills.